The present disclosure is related to the field of image processing for 3D display of a patient's organ, and more particularly, to the field of image processing for a 3D display of a patient's organ in which a surgical instrument is positioned.
Techniques exist which enable real-time visualization of a surgical instrument, in situ during a surgical procedure, such as needle, catheter, or a straight or shaped guide wire.
Fluoroscopy image gives real-time knowledge of the position of the surgical instrument. Fluoroscopy imaging uses x-rays to acquire and display two dimensional (2D) images of a region of interest in which a surgical instrument has been inserted.
Fluoroscopy imaging only enables the display of 2D images thereby compelling the practitioner to interpret and mentally reconstruct a 3D image in order to determine the exact position of the surgical instrument within the 3D volume.
Tomographic imaging enables the reconstruction of images in three-dimension (3D) and provides images corresponding to cross-sectional slices of part of the patient's body. Thus, the position of the instrument relative to the patient's body can be directly evaluated.
Although tomographic imaging has advantages, it also has disadvantages. In order to be able to reconstruct a 3D image of the patient's body, several 2D images at different angle positions of a C-arm carrying a radiation source must be acquired. The patient is therefore, subjected to radiation doses. In an effort to limit radiation doses, the 2D images used in the reconstruction of the present disclosure are only acquired at the discretion of the practitioner. This requires registration of the previously reconstructed 3D volume to the current fluoroscopic view. Subsequent movement of the patient may degrade this registration. To further limit the radiation dose, the practitioner may conduct treatment plan instrument trajectory planning as well as instrument position assessment with a reconstructed instrument overlaid on x-ray volume oblique slices. Techniques for instrument reconstruction are available, yet the quality of such instrument reconstruction is inherently limited for at, least the reasons highlighted above regarding reconstruction, as well as ultimately the quality of the x-ray images used to perform such reconstructions.